In August of 2010, six teens, a photographer, and two teachers embarked on a mission to create a Reading Camp at a small village named Akramaman. Little did we know that this was the beginning of something spectacular.
Ghanaian Mothers’ Hope invited forty children to that reading camp. The next year it was sixty children, ten adults, and seven teens. Each year our teams and camp children grew bigger.
And then there was 2014, the year with Ebola in all the headlines while we were in Ghana with a team of seven teens. Parents were frantically sending me emails and facebook messages. Everyone was perfectly safe. No Ebola, just Cholera. I am a hand washing fanatic so no one was getting sick on my watch. Oh, and we had 100 children in camp that year.
Of course when September came and Ebola was still in the news, no one was going to send their teen on a mission trip to Ghana in 2015. What if Ebola was to spread to Ghana? The GMH board began to question if we should even plan a reading camp for 2015. The children would be so sad but there were only three of us willing to travel: Bruce Neumann, Rev. Becki Neumann, and moi.
This was actually a blessing for Akramaman and the Ghanaian teachers. The teachers had been working with us for five years. Surely they could run the reading camp on their own. We identified two strong leaders, Kate Okine and Seth Tum and turned the camp over to them.
It was a fabulous decision. Because of Kate and Seth, GMH was able to begin another reading camp in a far away village in 2016 and this year, 2018, we added a third reading camp. All of this while maintaining our original camp at Akramaman.
There are some new teachers. Solomon and Millicent are excellent.
Kate still runs the show. Seth had to teach middle school last year, but has returned as a teacher this year.
Joanna Haslim came from Sarasota to help as we expected 100 children at camp this year. Only 50 children came today. There were new faces and a few familiar ones.
Four more days to go and fifty excited children. This is a great way to spend two weeks. This has all been possible because of many of you who have volunteered and others who have donated. I thank each of you.
Here, I ask for your prayers for one of our volunteers, Bruce Neumann, who has come to Ghana 13 times. Eleven times to help in reading camp.
Bruce just left Ghana on Sunday night. He arrived in DC with a critical case of cellulitis and is septic. He is in the intensive care unit. He is a servant of the Lord in every way. Please pray for healing.
Ghanaian Mothers' Hope 